


Scary Movies

by reddielosers



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Fluff, I love my boys, M/M, Reddie, Slow Burn, after the movie ends light continuation, just wanted to post some light hearted stuff, miss the fandom yall
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 21:54:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18352445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddielosers/pseuds/reddielosers
Summary: One shots of 14 year old Richie and Eddie slowly falling in love the beginning of the school year after they defeat Pennywise.





	1. Are You Scared?

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to announce that This Old Dog Part 7 is almost complete! Thank you all for being so patient with me this last year. The last chapter is going to be published very very soon! 
> 
> Here are lil tumblr prompts I really enjoyed of some good old canon reddie! Love yall

They were all going to meet up at the Aladdin. That was the plan, at least.

Eddie did not want to go. The only reason he found himself standing outside of the old theater is because the rest of the Losers had planned on meeting up here, and there was no way he was going to be the only one left out. 

It was the first weekend of the new school year. It had only been a few weeks since they had swore their blood oath and the Losers had never been closer. They spent almost every free minute they had dedicated to each other, and Eddie wouldn’t miss an opportunity to hang out with them for the world. 

At lunch earlier that day Richie had suggested seeing the new horror movie that had just come out, and it was only when Bill had agreed that Eddie gave into Richie’s antics. 

“Come on, Eds, don’t you want to use this as an excuse to cuddle up with me in the dark?” Richie had mocked, poking at Eddie’s ribs. 

“Never in a million years, Richie- hey, stop touching me!” Eddie tried slapping his arms away. “You know I’m ticklish, you dick!” 

“That I do, Spaghedward, that I do.” Richie said knowingly, in one of his signature shitty Voices. 

“Don’t call me Spaghedward either, Richie, I’m serious!” Eddie was trying to act as annoyed as possible but his smile betrayed him. It always did.

They were always bickering like this. It was their signature dynamic. Richie teased Eddie, sneaking in a cheek pinch or two, and Eddie rebutted with acting pissed and usually throwing in a ‘fuck you’ for good measure. Richie’s attempts to touch Eddie at any given moment no longer phased any of the Losers, either. Richie would always tuck Eddie’s uncut hair behind his ear when it fell into his face as they talked. Fix his shirt if it was wrinkled in a funny way. Zip his fanny pack if he forgot to. It seemed to be a subconscious habit, too, and the Losers never mentioned their strange relationship to either of them. Richie’s physical advances were almost mothering and they found it endlessly endearing. 

It wasn’t even that Richie actually annoyed Eddie, either. Annoyed wasn’t the right word. He just caused Eddie a lot of distress and Eddie didn’t know why. None of the other boys made him react this way. It was out of pure nerves and irrationality that made him snap at Richie’s foolishness at a seconds notice. Something about him just got underneath Eddie’s skin, made him face thoughts he never wanted to. 

So it was no big surprise that Eddie’s stomach curled up in anxiety when he finally saw Richie walk up to the theater alone. Wait, alone? Why was he alone?

“Hey, Rich. Where is everyone else? They’re gonna be late.” Eddie says, ignoring Richie as he goes in for a hug like they didn’t just see each other a few hours ago. Richie pulls away quickly, but leaves both of his hands on Eddie’s shoulders.

“Oh, they didn’t call you? None of them were able to make it. Ben has homework, Bill got into a spat with his dad, Mike couldn’t ride his bike back home after dark, yadda yadda.” Richie flashed Eddie an impossibly large grin. “Looks like it’s just me and you, Spaghetti Man!”

Eddie couldn’t help it when he let his face fall into a distressed frown. Now, not only was he stuck watching his first ever horror movie, but he was stuck watching it with Richie. The entire situation already wasn’t something Eddie wanted to do but now he had to go it alone with the Trashmouth himself. 

“I guess you’d call this a date, hm Eds?” Richie teases, opening the theater doors for him like a gentleman.

“You wish.” Eddie says, but his anxiety makes the statement fall flat with no real bite.

“Hey, you okay?” Richie asks when Eddie doesn’t move to go inside. “You don’t look too excited.”

“Yeah, yeah, its just..” Eddie shifts back and forth on his feet, wringing his hands together. “I’ve never seen a scary movie before...” He says quietly, too quiet for Richie to hear.

“What’d you say?”

“I said I’ve never seen a scary movie before.” Eddie says again, almost too loudly this time. He waits for Richie to crack some joke or laugh in his face, but the moment never comes. Eddie chances a look at him and sees that a soft expression has graced Richie’s features. His magnified brown eyes look sympathetic and almost watery in their gaze. 

“I didn’t know that, Eds.” Richie says, but quickly blinks the expression off of his face into a cocky smirk. “But this isn’t going to be shit compared to what we’ve seen in the sewers! We’ve killed fucking evil itself, you can handle a little horror, right?” He bumps Eddie’s arm encouragingly. 

Eddie doesn’t reply at first, but then Richie gingerly reaches out and holds one of Eddie’s hands, even slipping each of his fingers into Eddie’s smaller ones. He gives a soft squeeze.

“Yeah, right. Totally.” Eddie nods and looks down at his shoes, still feeling a little insecure about the entire situation as a whole. 

Eddie had always purposely avoided situations like this, where he was alone with Richie. Eddie wasn’t used to people touching him sweetly or really touching him period. His mother wasn’t one to give sweet hugs or soothing embraces. Sure, he kissed her once every morning and night, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to. Everytime he had to touch someone it was a doctor or to appease his mother. Always out of obligation. 

Not with Richie, though. Even now, the taller boy had pulled him inside the theater, holding his hand lightly while they stood and waited in line. Richie’s hand felt soft and warm clasping his and he couldn’t help the secret smile that danced on his face, because Richie wasn’t letting go. Eddie can’t remember the last time he held hands with someone. Actually, he can. He recalls tangling his bloody fingers around Richie and Mike’s when they created their pact. It was always Richie that soothed him, it seemed. Always.

Eddie let that thought slip from his mind as Richie finally releases his hand in order to take their tickets and popcorn. Reality really starts to set in for him when they find their seats near the back of the theater and the lights dim. 

Richie was munching loudly on the popcorn that sat between them, eyes excitedly dancing around on the large theater screen. He had propped his legs up on the seats in front of them and was making himself nice and cozy. Eddie, on the other hand, was a tiny tense ball of nerves as he curled up into the large theater seat. His heart pounded softly in his chest as he watched the title flash in front of him.

As the movie progressed, Eddie thought that he could handle it. Richie was right, after all. He had been nearly eaten by a 7 foot clown half a dozen times and won. While the memory of the event was getting fuzier with time, he knew that he had kicked some ass. He could handle seeing a zombie or two, right?

Wrong.

By the time the movie had begun to actually get climactic, Eddie couldn’t even bare to look at the screen, hell, he could hardly force himself to glance. Instead his eyes kept settling on Richie, who was nearly enthralled with his theater experience. 

Eddie focused on the freckles that were speckled across Richie’s cheeks and nose, magnified by his large glasses. He noticed how Richie’s hair was maturing into wavy curls that haloed around his face, poofy and endearing. Eddie even found himself staring at the way Richie’s two front teeth sat on the pillow of his bottom lip, just a little two large to sit in his mouth without sticking out. He didn’t realize he was staring until he saw Richie’s lips quirk up into a lazy grin.

“Are you scared?” He whispered towards Eddie, and he didn’t miss the fondness he heard in Richie’s voice.

“No.” Eddie said defiantly, almost annoyed. Because he wasn’t scared, not really. Not when he was able to ground himself with Richie.

“Then why won’t you look at the screen?” Richie turns to face him then, and only the left side of his face is light up by the movie. He was wearing a toothy grin and his eyes were squinted by his smile. Faint sounds of zombie moans and woman screams filled the theater. “See something you like?” 

All of a sudden, all at once, before he can even snap at Richie with another ‘no’, Eddie realizes just what Richie makes him feel. Nervous, certainly. Safe, absolutely. But that wasn’t it.

Richie made him feel taken care of. Liked. Before he knew what he was doing, Eddie finally replied.

Small and dry lips pressed against Richie’s parted ones. The kiss was mostly just Eddie pecking Richie’s top teeth, but it still made Eddie’s heart flip and his stomach drop. He pulled away quickly, mind catching up with his body, and he just stared at Richie with scared, wide doe-eyes. 

Before he can apologize, or better yet, just run out of the theater in embarrassment entirely, Richie’s blank stare quickly comes back to life on his face with a shy smile. 

“I knew that this was a date.” Richie replies smartly, letting that familiar little spark of mischief dance in his eyes.

“Oh shut the fuck up, Richie.” Eddie smiles, leaning back into his seat and looking at the movie theater just so he could avoid Richie’s smirky gaze. 

Instead of continuing his teasing, Richie actually does shut up, and reaches across the popcorn bowl to hold Eddie’s hand softly once again. 

Eddie wasn’t afraid of the movie at all, after that. He wasn’t afraid of those weird emotions that Richie made him feel, either.


	2. Don't Hurt Him

It had been about two weeks since the awkward (and perfect) kiss happened between Eddie and Richie in the movie theater. Neither of them really brought it up again, because there wasn’t a lot to explain. Richie was enthralled with Eddie and Eddie absolutely adored Richie. 

Their dumbass antics only escalated from what they used to be- instead of just keeping their endless teasing between each other, they would now turn and roast whichever other Loser was closest, like some sort of sassy dynamic duo. It would of bothered the Losers more if it wasn’t just as hilarious to them as it was to the other two boys.  They still annoyed the shit out of one another too, of course, don’t get me wrong. They still bickered nonstop, not unlike a boy tugging on a girl’s piggy tails to get her attention.

Difference is, now they were absolutely glued to the hip. If the Losers thought that Richie was clingy to Eddie before, they were in a whole different ballpark now. It was as if Richie’s hands were magnetized to Eddie’s body and he didn’t have the strength to resist them. What used to be a casual tousle of Eddie’s hair or wiping away a stray food crumb from his cheek, was now incessant tickling, wrapping his arms around Eddie’s middle, and Richie’s personal favorite- blowing raspberries into Eddie’s neck.

And Eddie didn’t even seem to care! Sure, he would say that Richie was ‘up his ass’ and to ‘leave me alone, Trashmouth’ but the smaller boy would never actually make a move to get away. He would just let Richie pull him into the other boy’s lap, acting as casual as possible whenever it happened. They were completely compatible and comfortable with one another, and a kiss wasn’t about to change that. They had grown up together, after all. They knew each other in ways that nobody else in the world could understand. Besides the other Losers, of course.

Like right now, for example. It was a Friday night and all of the Losers were all cramped in Bill’s basement watching a horror movie (again). Richie was on some kind of kick, soaking up any and all horror media he could find. It all started when they watched Nightmare on Elm Street 5 earlier that Summer when IT... Well, you know.

Anyway, it was Richie’s night to pick, unfortunately for the other 6. It did give Mike a good excuse to coddle Stanley, though, and every once in a while Eddie would glance over to the pair and find that they had been slowly but surely scooching closer and closer to each other on the love seat. Eventually Stan’s head found Mike’s shoulder, and they both watched the carnage that was happening on screen in contentment.

Since Eddie had gone to that unofficial date with Richie at the Aladdin he found that he wasn’t as frightened of scary movies as he had thought. Not at all, in fact. Sure, seeing them in theaters could get him a little riled up, but that was his anxiety talking more than his actual fright. He knew movies weren’t real... He had seen what real horror was.

Eddie was currently perched in Richie’s lap on the floor just in front of the couch that Ben, Bill, and Beverly were occupying. Bev had fallen asleep almost as soon as the film had started and it was Ben and Bill that were awkwardly squished together because of Beverly’s hogging two out of the three couch cushions. Her faint snores filled the room, almost louder than the dialogue on the tv, but no one in the room seemed to care. Beverly must had been pooped from her train ride back to Derry from Portland. 

As Eddie stared at the television he was only half paying attention to the action of the film. Richie’s nimble fingers were messaging into Eddie’s even smaller hand, rubbing small circles into his palm. Richie’s hands were always warm contrasted to Eddie’s cold ones and it felt really nice to have him fiddle with his fingers.

While Eddie and Richie had not kissed again, Richie had taken said kiss as permission to hold Eddie’s hand whenever he liked. Eddie never seemed to initiate any touching, so when Richie was feeling like he needed a little extra attention, Richie would take one of Eddie’s hands and place them on his head, forcing him to rub softly into his hair. Eddie, not looking up from whatever he was doing, would automatically oblige. He’d run his fingernails softly from the crown of Richie’s head all the way down to his neck and then back up again. Richie would close his eyes at that, going slack beneath Eddie as he sat in his lap. It usually made Richie fall asleep, and Eddie was happy to do anything to get Richie to calm down enough to be able to relax.

This was exactly what was currently happening, and before Eddie knew it, he had glanced back to see each and every one of his friends fast asleep. The action on the movie continued loudly, but it didn’t seem to disturb any of them. Ben had rolled over until his side was flush with Bill’s and they were sleeping with their heads leaning on the other’s for support. Fucking adorable.

Eddie got up from his place on Richie’s legs slowly, stretching with his hands up in the air until he felt the soft popping of his knees and spine. He let out a light sigh and padded across the basement and up the stairs to the kitchen, on the hunt for some popcorn. 

Richie opened his eyes slowly, the draft in the basement waking him up lightly. He was shivering a tiny bit and realized it was because he had lost the warmth of his small counterpart. He looked around the room for a moment, acknowledging that everyone was napping, but Eddie was nowhere to be found. He quirked and eyebrow before rubbing the sleep out of his eyes from underneath his glasses. He quickly hopped up, ignoring that his legs had fallen asleep, and quickly darted upstairs. 

"Eddie?" He called into the empty hallway. The bathroom door to his left was empty; unoccupied. 

"Eds?" No reply came. It was raining harshly outside and the room was colored in grey from the clouds. Richie quickly strutted into the Denbrough kitchen, expecting his companion to be on his tip-toes trying to reach the popcorn in the cupboards. (fuckin shorty.) But he wasn't there.

No, Richie didn't think he was one to panic, but boy did he jump quickly to conclusions. His heart began pumping wildly and he started breathing heavily out of his mouth. Where the fuck did he go?

"Eddie! Where are you?" His voice rose just enough for his voice to crack in the middle of his sentence.

In a last ditch effort to deduce where Eddie had gone, Richie raced outside. Rain fell down on his head and shoulders, and to his dismay, he saw that Eddie's bike was still propped outside in the yard. He hadn't left.

Running around the threshold looking for Eddie sat uncomfortably familiar in Richie's gut. The last time he had chased Eddie, trying desperately to find and protect him, was at Neibolt. Just the memory alone made his heart race and his head feel dizzy. Suddenly, a far off memory resurfaces in his mind, and his eyes widen at the sinister voice that whispers in his ear.

_ "Don't touch the other boys, Richie... Don't... Or they'll know your secret."  _

"No... This can't be happening. This can't be happening." Richie whispers to himself, quickly turning back around and speeding up the porch steps. He swung the screen door back open and b-lined it straight for the basement stairs, footsteps loud and heavy. He was completely prepared to make an incredibly large scene, yelling for the others to get up, that IT had returned and Eddie was gone. Admit his failure. Again. He couldn't keep Eddie safe. 

Just as he was about to put his foot on that first step, something burst from around the corner and shouted an incredibly loud "BOO!"

This knocked Richie straight onto his ass, his hands coming up to cover his face as he let out a strained cry. 

Eddie had just pounced from behind the pantry door, crouched with his hands up like he had bear claws. He was pink in the face from trying his best not to laugh as he hid from Richie, sneaking around the house as Richie went on the hunt for him. He thought that this prank was going to really set a new bar between them, and he knew he was going to make Richie scream like a girl.

What he didn't anticipate was this.

Richie had fallen down in front of him, his face blotchy and red already with tears. He had covered his glasses and crown of his head with shaking hands. He was breathing harshly, lips quivering after he let out his scream. Eddie straightened up, all humor repelled out of his body like a bullet. Richie had cried, muttering a small, "Don't hurt him!"

Eddie kneeled in front of Richie, then. Slowly, he lifted his hands until they were covering both of Richie's as he said, "Rich! Richie! It's just me! It's Eddie."

"Eddie?" Richie whispered, removing his arms from his face and staring at Eddie with wide, frightened, sad eyes. They were rimmed with red and the fact that his glasses magnified their anguish made Eddie's heart split in two. 

"It's just me, Rich. It's Eddie." He squeezed both of Richie's hands softly, not letting them go. slowly bringing them to his lips to kiss each knuckle. 

"Eddie." Richie just stared at him, almost disbelieving that it was really him. He finally relented and relaxed, letting his body slump. He wiped his face with his shoulder, looking away from Eddie in embarrassment. He refused to look back at the smaller boy. 

Eddie let Richie come back to himself for a bit. In an attempt to comfort him, Eddie did the first thing he could think of. He brought both of Richie's warm hands to his lips and lightly kissed his knuckle. 

Richie's head turned back towards him and his wet eyes landed on where Eddie's lips were giving him a soft peck. Eddie continued, caressing each finger with soft and quick kisses. Richie just silently watched as Eddie pecked his fingers. 

Eddie waited until Richie's breathing returned to normal again to speak.

"What happened just now, Rich? Why did that scare you so bad?" He said quietly, barely even a whisper. 

"I..." Richie stopped, looking down at his hands in Eddie's instead of the other boy's eyes. "I thought it took you."

"You mean... IT?" Eddie hadn't thought of IT in weeks. It was like a faint and distant dream, even though it had only happened to them a few months ago. 

"Yeah." Another beat of silence.

"Richie, nothing is going to happen to me. We killed it. YOU killed it. It's okay."

"I just want to keep you safe!" Richie blurts, almost interrupting Eddie's sentence. "I thought that it took you from me again." Richie sniffles, only once. "I don't know what I would do if it did."

Eddie just looked at Richie. Tried to memorize the way he bit his bottom lip to stop it from quivering. Wanted to imprint the way Richie's eyes couldn't quite meet his while he admitted his confession. It wasn't very often Eddie got to see this version of his best friend. He wanted to store it for eternity to memory. 

"You keep me safe, Rich." Eddie says. Richie just scoffs. Eddie squeezes both of his hands again. "Hey, you do!" Richie doesn't reply this time, lost in his tornado of self deprecating thoughts.

Without thinking about it twice, only focusing on comforting his beautiful friend, Eddie utters a few earnest words.

"I love you, Rich." Eddie breathes. He keeps his eyes steadfast, never faltering from Richie's expression. He didn't want to miss anything. 

Richie slowly lifts his head again, this time bravely returning Eddie's gaze. 

"W-what?"

"I love you. Richie." Eddie says again. He is beginning to feel embarrassed now, like that was the exact opposite thing to say, and that it was so stupid of him to think otherwise.

"I love you too, Eds." Richie says and there is laughter in his voice. Eddie's eyes widen, eyebrows shooting up, and Richie laughs whole-heartedly now. "I love you, Spaghetti!" 

Richie throws his arms around Eddie's shoulders, and Eddie returns his invitation easily. Eddie is kneeling in between Richie's open legs and they just stay in that awkward embrace until Eddie's knees are screaming at him to move. 

Eddie leans back, just enough so that his face is a few inches from Richie's.

"You want to go finish that movie?" He asks softly, not wanting to tell Richie he has to do anything. 

Richie just nods, giving Eddie a little mischievous side-ways smirk that he always wears. 

"Oh what, Trashmouth, you going to hang that over my head forever now?" Eddie scoffs, returning the smirk at his dumbass friend. 

"Yup! Forever. For-fucking-ever, Eds." Richie's voice is beginning to sound like his usual self. "It's going to be the one thing I think of before I go to sleep at night, laying next to you mother after we-"

"Okay! That's enough! Get off me, you dipshit." Eddie shoves Richie playfully and stands up, marching back towards the stairs. 

"What? No kiss this time? Come on, Eds! Way to send a guy mixed signals here!" Richie calls as he follows him back down to the basement. 


End file.
